


Bleeding out

by Nimueh



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Heavy Angst, M/M, this is just angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 02:39:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7202936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nimueh/pseuds/Nimueh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's been shot and he calls Danny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bleeding out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bananaranana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananaranana/gifts).



> English is not my first language so please bear with me :3  
> I wrote this listening to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3lWwMHFhnA&list=PLkuZGOHYz1RiDo4b4b0Wfvo1A3k7XyZUo&index=2

It’s almost midnight and the shot takes Steve by surprise. Before he can turn around to take a look at the shooter his legs start failing. It begins as a small spot in his lower stomach that gets bigger and bigger in a matter of seconds, tinting the t-shirt with a red so dark that wouldn’t register as blood to someone that’s not used to seeing blood. Kneeled on the sand and applying pressure with both hands at the wound Steve can hear the shooter getting away in a rush, running away from the crime scene. He wants to turn around, he wants to reach the gun he’s hiding in his ankle, he wants to shoot him in the legs and immobilize him until the backup arrives but he can’t seem to find the strength to do it so instead he lets himself fall back on the sand and searches – with his left hand - for the pocket of his cargo pants where he keeps his phone. He tries to dial 911 but the numbers seem to blurry under his look, he blinks several times in an absurd attempt to focus his sight and he understands that he’s not getting out of this one. Denying it wouldn’t make sense, Steve has seen hundreds of bullet wounds, he has been shot before, and he’s been in enough situations like this right here to know he wasn’t going to make it. The hand that was applying pressure to the wound was getting weaker by the minute and Steve was having trouble keeping his eyes opened. Almost unconsciously he finds himself scrolling through his contacts, looking for a particular name. Even though he barely can focus his sight, the picture of a blonde guy holding a little girl in his arms makes him realize he’s found what he was looking for so he presses the calling button and the name Danno covers the screen, confirming that he is – in fact – calling.

“Please don’t tell me we have another case” he whines “This is not healthy, you know? We haven’t had a proper night sleep in a week. Why people kill so much here in Hawaii? This didn’t happen in Jersey, you know? Well, okay, it did happen but they sent the rookies because they had some respect f-“ 

Danny’s voice feels like a bright white light at the end of a dark and lonely tunnel to Steve, who smiles like everything is suddenly alright, like there isn’t a bullet placed in one of his vital organs causing him to bleed out to death. 

“Steve?”

Danny starts to worry by the lack of talking on Steve’s side of the phone.

“Steve?” he repeats “You okay?”

It takes him some time to answer, his eyelids feel heavy and the blood is already thickening between his fingers. 

“Yes, Danny, I’m perfectly fine” considering the circumstances it would be fair to say that this was a lie “Don’t be so dramatic, okay?” his voice is rough.

“Oh, excuse me if I worry when you call me this late and it’s nor for a case.” the bitterness soon turns into the previous worried tone “Also, you don’t sound okay at all. Where are you?”

“At the beach.”

“At the beach” he repeats “May I ask, if you don’t mind, why the fuck are you calling me then? Are you drunk?” he feels an instant relief at the thought “Oh my god, you’re drunk. Well, thanks for waking me up, you animal.”

But Danny’s voice doesn’t really sound bothered and Steve can’t help but grin.

“I just wanted to talk to you” he finally says.

“What now?” he sounds actually surprised this time.

“You heard me, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Are you serious? Are you being serious right now?”

“Come on Danno, humour me.”

There’s a silence that lasts about five seconds in which Danny considers hanging up and going back to bed but he doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t.

“Okay, okay. What you wanna talk about, babe?”

“Grace was with you today, right?”

“Yeah, Rachel picked her up after dinner.”

“What did you do?”

“Huh?”

“What did you two do today?”

Steve’s voice sounds strangled, he finds it hard to keep his breath steady but he tries to focus on Danny’s voice when he starts talking again.

“Oh, well, not much really. Do you really want to hear me talk about this?”

“Yes” he says “Please.”

“Okay. But we both agree with the fact that you’re being weird, right?”

“Yes, sure” he laughs.

“Okay, so, we… uhm, I picked her up after breakfast… we went to the beach because Gracie wanted to. You know I hate the beach. The things you do for love, huh?”

“Yeah” a whisper so low Danny couldn’t hear it.

“So, we swam for an hour or so and headed back home. And then I made mac and cheese for lunch, or how I like to call it: Danny’s special.”

Steve can sense his grin through the phone.

“I gotta try those” Steve says, his heart aching for more than one reason.

“Yeah babe, you gotta. They’re like regular mac and cheese with a special Jersey touch. Best thing ever. You know what? I’m making them for ya next week. Watcha think?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Danny falls silent for a moment, not knowing what to say next.

“What did you do next?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, we… uhm, we took a nap and then went to the movies”

“What did you see?” he asks, his eyes already closed, the only thing keeping him awake was Danny’s voice.

“Oh, you don’t really want to hear about the movie”

“Yes, I do. Come on” he coughs and feels the blood in his mouth, a little drop running down his lower lip. Every time he talks it feels like he’s about to choke on his own blood but he doesn’t want Danny to notice so he keeps his words to a minimum.

“Okay. Well, it was a romcom… and it was totally your typical romcom. Boy meets girl in a coffee shop. They don’t like each other at first, of course” the eye-rolling from Danny is so obvious to Steve that he can’t repress the smile “But then” he emphasizes “she needs a fake boyfriend to take to his cousin wedding or whatever because she lied about having a boyfriend.” Steve can picture Danny moving his hands all over “Another cliché to the pile of clichés that is this movie.”  
Another grin spreads across Steve’s face. Steve, the navy seal, whom may start to cry soon enough because it’s not fair. He doesn’t want to go like this. Not now, at least. Not now that his life is good, not now that he has his little task force, not now that he has an ohana, not now that he has Danny. It would have been so easy for Steve to die a few years ago in the line of duty and with nothing waiting for him at home, but now it was just unfair.

“Anyway, the boy agrees to go with her as her fake boyfriend even though they barely know each other, because that happens in real life, right? It’s happened to me twice already” he’s all sarcasm now “Okay, and now, get a hold of yourself because here comes the plot twist” he pauses for a second “You ready?” and waits for Steve to answer.

“Y-yeah” and that’s the last thing Steve says to Danny.

“They fall in love. Completely unexpected, huh?” he laughs “Grace loved it, I hated it… but then again: the things you do for love, right?”

The sea breeze is light on him.

The smell of salt that comes from the sea fills his chest.

The blood between his fingers is no longer warm and it looks black below the moonlight.

His eyes are shut and the goofy smile is still there. 

Danny’s voice at the other side of the line. He’s still talking, he’s saying something about Grace and dinner but Steve can’t fully hear him now.

Then it all goes dark.

“Steve? You there, buddy?” he doesn’t get a reply “You fell sleep, didn’t you? Yep, I bet you did. Well then, see ya tomorrow. Goodnight babe”

And he hangs up.


End file.
